It's equally certain Holmgren's success with the Packers shaded perceptions of his tenure in Seattle.

Holmgren led the Seahawks to the playoffs three times in his first six seasons. That would constitute success in most situations, but not when you carry the Super Bowl-sized expectations inspired by his hiring.

Many believed when this season started that Seattle needed to win a playoff game for Holmgren to stick around for the eighth and final year of the contract he signed in 1999.

The Seahawks (13-2) conclude their most successful regular season in franchise history in Green Bay (3-12) on Sunday, and any disparity in the standings will be dwarfed by the symbolism.

Holmgren's present intersects with his past to end a season when the Seahawks will have a better record than the Packers for only the second time since Holmgren came to Seattle.

"I think when you make decisions in this business -- when they are your decisions and not when someone else makes decisions for you -- then you don't do that."

In the first six seasons after Holmgren left Green Bay for Seattle, the Packers made the playoffs four times, the Seahawks three times. Green Bay has won two playoff games, the Seahawks none.

The lack of immediate success didn't shake Holmgren's belief in his style.

"I've always felt that if you get certain things in place, I really believe in our system of football and how we do things," Holmgren said. "I think it's kind of a proven system."

It's what took the Packers to a Super Bowl title in Holmgren's fifth season there. The franchise won more than eight games only once in the 20 seasons before Holmgren arrived in 1992. It won at least nine games all seven seasons he was there.

His legacy is still evident in Green Bay. Sherman was once an assistant under Holmgren. He was even in Seattle for a season before he was hired in Green Bay. He's not surprised by the Seahawks' success.

"It was just a matter of time," Sherman said.

Holmgren came to Seattle as the coach, general manager and grand poobah of all things football. When the Seahawks won eight of their first 10 games under him, it only raised expectations.

Turns out there was a lot of heavy lifting left to do, said Ted Thompson, the Packers general manager who was hired by Holmgren in Seattle in 2000 and left for Green Bay over the offseason.

"It takes time for a building, an organization the size of the Seahawks to kind of catch up to that," Thompson said. "There are decisions made in personnel and decisions made in your staff that sometimes take years to makeover."

The transformation is completed. The offense assembled by Holmgren has set a franchise record for points and leads the NFL in yards. Shaun Alexander leads the league in rushing and Matt Hasselbeck is No. 1 in the conference in quarterback rating.

And now the question Holmgren is answering is not when his team will live up to the expectations that greeted his arrival, but how this Seahawks team compares to the best teams he had in Green Bay.

"We have to wait and see," Holmgren said. "Ultimately, the team will be judged on how far they go, you know, and if you can get to the big dance."

But first, they must play a game in the town where Holmgren is significant enough to have a street named after him. It will be meaningless in the standings, but don't discount the importance to the coach, said one of the few Packers left who played for Holmgren and remembers how fired up the coach got against a former team.

"I remember when he was here and we played San Francisco, he was just a grumpy (person) all week," said Packers center Mike Flanagan.